Water from My Heart by Martin Charles

Author:Martin, Charles [Martin, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2015-05-18T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Colin moved his family home after that summer in Costa Rica while keeping the house, swearing that he and his family would return there for all eternity. That he and Marguerite would retire there. Colin had found a home. As had his family. Life was good.

In the coming weeks and months, I introduced Shelly to my family. To Colin, Marguerite, Zaul, and she-who-holds-my-heart-in-her-hands, Maria Luisa. Every time we saw them, Maria would run, jump up in my lap, throw her arms around my neck, and speak in a voice that could melt titanium. “Uncle Charlie, what’d you bring me?”

I’d hold her in my lap, tickle her, sing “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” And then after ignoring her long enough, I’d snap my fingers and circle back around to her question. “I knew I forgot something.”

She’d try to search my pockets, and finally I’d pull a wrapped package out of a hidden place in my shirt or shorts. A necklace or a ring or something glittery from some foreign soil. The first time Shelly met her she shook her head. “Least I know who the competition is.” She smiled. “She’s got you eating out of the palm of her hand.”

I nodded and said, “Hook, line, and sinker.”

The more time Shelly and I spent with Colin and his family, the more I could see how the absence of children in her own life was affecting her. There was a joy missing. And she knew it. She sensed its absence. She also saw that I was good with kids, that I loved them, that they loved me. Add to that her love for me, and it wasn’t tough to see that coming freight train in the tunnel.

One night, walking hand in hand in the surf along our favorite part of the beach, on the northwestern tip of Bimini, Atlantis buried in the waters over my shoulder, she asked me, “Can I ask you something?”

I had a feeling this was coming. It’d been on the tip of her tongue for weeks. “Yes.”

“You ever think about getting married?”

“No.”

She poked me in the ribs. “I’m being serious.”

This was one of those conversations with which I wasn’t entirely comfortable. The kind where we talked about things of the heart. Where we leaned over the green felt and showed the other the cards we were holding. Where the mystery, the fun and games ended and the playing stopped. Where we held our chips loosely. I swallowed. “Yes.”

She tucked her arm inside mine. “Ever think of someone you might like to do that with?”

I nodded. “Yeah…Maria.”

She punched me in the arm and pointed to the water rolling in gentle waves around our ankles. “You want to go swimming?”

I laughed.

She continued. “I’m serious.”

It was time. I’d put it off long enough. The game had brought me to this place. Either I was all in or I needed to fold. I turned, held both her hands, and knelt. As I was about to open my mouth, a wave crashed just beyond us and the whitewater rolled me over.

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